Present Tense In Spanish: Ultimate Guide With 10 Most Common -AR, -ER, -IR Verbs
The present tense in Spanish is the most used tense in the language.
How does it work? How do you conjugate verbs with it? When do you use it?
All of these questions will be answered in-depth in this blog post, but, if you’re ready for a quick, Effortless Answer, here it goes:
Effortless Answers
The present tense in Spanish is used to describe actions that are currently happening or habitual actions. It is formed for regular verbs based on their endings:
• -ar,
• -er, and
• -ir.
For a video overview, check this video from Spring Spanish (a project I co-founded):
And now, let’s go deeper into this grammar topic!
1. What is the present tense in Spanish?
So, the present tense in Spanish is the most used tense in the language. You use it to talk about actions that are happening at the moment of the speaking, or when you’re talking about habits that are always recurring.
If we’d want to put this into an equation, we could simply explain how you form the Spanish present tense:
Subject + Verb Stem (without -AR, -ER, -IR) + Ending = Present Tense in Spanish
Good!
We’re going to go one-by-one with every part of this equation. But first….
2. When to use Spanish present tense?
Okay, so…
The present tense in Spanish is used in different contexts. It’s really similar to English, so it’s not that complicated to understand.
Here are the main and most common situations where you would usually use the present tense in Spanish – all of this with examples:
| Use Case | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Current Actions | Estoy comiendo. | I am eating. |
| Habitual Actions | Voy al gimnasio todos los días. | I go to the gym every day. |
| General Truths or Facts | El agua hierve a 100 grados Celsius. | Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. |
| Future Actions | Mañana viajo a Madrid. | Tomorrow I travel to Madrid. |
| Immediate Future | Salimos en cinco minutos. | We leave in five minutes. |
| Narration | El protagonista entra en la casa. | The protagonist enters the house. |
| Requests or Commands | Por favor, hable más despacio. | Please, speak more slowly. |
3. How to form regular verbs in the present tense
We already shared the equation on how you can form the present tense in Spanish, and regular verbs in Spanish are part of that.
But another question rises: how do you form the regular forms in the present tense?
We have three different types of verbs in Spanish (-AR, -ER, -IR), and we’ll explain the correct conjugation of them now.
Use the -AR-ending present tense verbs
To form the present tense of -AR verbs in Spanish, you follow a systematic process that removes the -AR ending from the infinitive form of the verb and adding the appropriate present tense endings.
The endings and an example of the verb conjugation can be found in the next table:
| Subject Pronoun | Ending | Conjugation |
|---|---|---|
| yo (I) | -o | hablo (I speak) |
| tú (you, informal) | -as | hablas (you speak) |
| él/ella/usted (he/she/you, formal) | -a | habla (he/she/you speak) |
| nosotros/nosotras (we) | -amos | hablamos (we speak) |
| vosotros/vosotras (you all, informal in Spain) | -áis | habláis (you all speak) |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes (they/you all) | -an | hablan (they/you all speak) |
Use the Spanish present verbs ending in – ER
To form the present tense of -ER verbs in Spanish, you follow a similar process as with -AR verbs, but with slightly different endings.
Here’s a step-by-step guide with examples:
| Subject Pronoun | Ending | Conjugation |
|---|---|---|
| yo (I) | -o | como (I eat) |
| tú (you, informal) | -es | comes (you eat) |
| él/ella/usted (he/she/you, formal) | -e | come (he/she/you eat) |
| nosotros/nosotras (we) | -emos | comemos (we eat) |
| vosotros/vosotras (you all, informal in Spain) | -éis | coméis (you all eat) |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes (they/you all) | -en | comen (they/you all eat) |
Use the Spanish present tense verbs ending in -IR
To form the present tense of -IR verbs in Spanish, you again follow a systematic approach similar to that of -AR and -ER verbs, but – again – with different endings.
Here’s how it looks like:
| Subject Pronoun | Ending | Conjugation |
|---|---|---|
| yo (I) | -o | vivo (I live) |
| tú (you, informal) | -es | vives (you live) |
| él/ella/usted (he/she/you, formal) | -e | vive (he/she/you live) |
| nosotros/nosotras (we) | -imos | vivimos (we live) |
| vosotros/vosotras (you all, informal in Spain) | -ís | vivís (you all live) |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes (they/you all) | -en | viven (they/you all live) |
4. 10 common regular present tense verbs in Spanish
Just like in every language, there are some common verbs you use in Spanish.
Here are the 10 most common ones, you could use in everyday conversations. No matter if you’re talking about everyday actions, habits, things happening right now, in the moment, you would use these expressions.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hablar | to speak/talk |
| Comer | to eat |
| Vivir | to live |
| Estudiar | to study |
| Trabajar | to work |
| Jugar | to play |
| Escuchar | to listen |
| Mirar | to look/watch |
| Cantar | to sing |
| Bailar | to dance |
Let’s take a look at these most common regular verbs in Spanish – in action:
Ana: Hola Carlos, ¿quieres hablar? (Hi Carlos, do you want to talk?)
Carlos: ¡Hola Ana! Sí, ¿qué haces hoy? (Hi Ana! Yes, what are you doing today?)
Ana: Voy a estudiar y luego comer. (I’m going to study and then eat.)
Carlos: Yo voy a trabajar y después quiero jugar (I’m going to work and then I want to play.)
Ana: ¡Perfecto! Después escuchamos música. (Perfect! Later we’ll listen to music.)
5. Irregular verbs in the Spanish present indicative
Did you see ser in Spanish? Or estar in Spanish? Two of the most complicated verbs are also explained on our blog.
And they are also the most common irregular verbs in the Spanish present indicative. What are some other well-known irregular verbs?
They don’t follow the same rules as the regular ones, so you have to learn them one way or the other. (More on that ‘other’ in our last section.)
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Ser | to be |
| Estar | to be |
| Ir | to go |
| Tener | to have |
| Hacer | to do/make |
| Poder | to be able/can |
| Decir | to say/tell |
| Ver | to see |
| Dar | to give |
| Saber | to know |
6. Practice present tense in Spanish with flashcards
Practice present tense in Spanish with our pre-made flashcard sets brought to you by Quizlet!
Wasn’t enough? Request the full practice worksheet!
7. Learn the presente de indicativo with Conversation Based Chunking
Now, just like we mentioned things about that ‘other’ method you can learn present tense in Spanish…
It’s Conversation Based Chunking.
It’s not about learning and remembering these verbs and tables by heart, it’s more about using these verbs in context. You listen to how native speakers talk, and you realize that they use chunks. Chunks are the most common phrases anyone uses in their own language.
And it’s no different in Spanish. If you want to learn more about this method, you can sign up for our email list, and we’ll send you a FREE Spanish Chunking Starter Pack – in it, you’ll find examples, exercises and useful resources to learn Spanish.
